This invention relates to a multi-story car park which has at least one floor for receiving and delivering vehicles, with direct access to the public road, and at least one floor on which vehicles are parked.
Car parks of this type exist wherein the reception/delivery floor(s) are linked to the parking spaces by ramps, by means of which the drivers go up or down with their vehicles in motion. On the parking floors, the marked spaces are usually in alignment, thereby taking maximum advantage of the available surface area. However, between the various rows of parking spaces there must be lanes of sufficient width to allow for the vehicles to arrive and leave the spaces, maneuvering and turning as necessary. This system greatly reduces the parking capacity of the various floors since a large part of the surface area must be left free for the circulation and maneuvering of vehicles.
In addition, the upwards/downwards ramps reduce the useable surface area of the parking floors In an attempt to solve this problem, elevators have been installed by means of which the vehicles are moved from the reception/delivery floor(s) to the parking floors, and vice versa. However, transfer from the elevator to the parking space on each floor is by traditional methods, i.e. by driving the vehicle, making it necessary for each floor to have lanes and spaces for circulation and maneuvering, thereby reducing the parking area.
In both cases, because the vehicles must be moved by their drivers, it is necessary, furthermore, for the various floors to have a height sufficient to allow people to move about, this height being far greater than necessary for the actual parking of the vehicles. In this way, only a part of the height of the structure is occupied by vehicles.
In short, with traditional construction and distribution methods, only a small part of the overall volume is occupied by vehicles.